A Century of Virtual Reality

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Date and time

Wednesday 22 April 2020 1pm - 2pm

Description

Dr Miriam Ross (@miriamruthross)
Victoria University of Wellington

In this seminar, Dr Miriam Ross will present on the complex history of Virtual Reality. Taking the lenticular stereoscope’s 1851 public debut as the first eye apparatus to provide the illusion of transportation to a virtual world, we have had over a century and a half of technological devices that expand optical data and our potential for knowing through visual means. Yet for all that virtual reality devices are premised upon the optical illusion, multisensory and synesthetic modes have meant that we experience deeply embodied, subjective, interactions. These take place at the material and the imaginative level as fully realised and experimental technologies inspire and are inspired by creative arts (literature, theatre, film, television, gaming).

This seminar charts a trajectory connecting VR’s embodiment with early 3D cinema experiments, science fiction literature and Star Trek’s Holodeck. This seminar touches on three significant historical moments: the 1930s, late 1980s / early 1990s, and our present moment.

This seminar is part of the Digital Studio’s 2020 Seminar Series – Seeing Double: The Multiple Worlds of Virtual Reality which is presented in partnership with the Enlightenment, Romanticism Contemporary Culture research unit.